Formula One represents the pinnacle of motorsport. A Formula One car is usually a single seater, open wheel machine with a tremendous power to weight ratio. Modern day Grand Prix cars can corner at incredible speeds thanks to their large tires and wings. The drivers are generally considered to be the best in the world, and to win the Formula 1 Driver's Championship is the ultimate goal in motor racing. Manufacturers such as Renault, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Ford and BMW (to name but a few) have spent huge sums of money in order to win the Constructors Championship, either by building the best engine or by designing the best complete package (car+engine).
The Formula 1 championship as we know it today, dates from 1950. Prior to this, there were "grand prix" cars and races, right from the beginning of the century. Initially these took the form of lengthy road races using stripped down production cars. With the construction of purpose built racing circuits, such as Brooklands in the UK, racing moved off the roads and onto the racetrack. The 1930's were a golden age for motor racing, as politics in Germany dictated motor-sport to be a show-case for Germany's industrial and engineering prowess. This led to the famous "silver arrows" which was the generic name given to the Mercedes-Benz and Auto-Union grand-prix machines. The national racing colours of Germany were white, but prior to it's first race, the new Mercedes grand-prix car was found to be 1kg heavier than the rules allowed. To get around this, the cars were stripped down to the bare metal and a thin aircraft-type aluminium paint was applied. Hence the "silver arrows" were born. The rear engined V-16 Auto-Unions in particular, were spectacular machines. I'd certainly love to see a 1:18th scale model of one.
Post war, the 1950's were initially dominated by Alfa-Romeo and newcomers Ferrari (who have been participants from 1950 to date, and who share the laurels for most successful team ever with McLaren). In 1954, the silver arrows in the form of Mercedes-Benz returned, and with top drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss won the championships in '54 and '55.
The 1960's saw the introduction of the rear engined grand-prix car (initially with Cooper), aerodynamic aids (with Lotus) and sponsorship (again with Lotus). The Ford Cosworth DFV V-8 engine made it's appearance in the late 1960's, and would go on to be the most successful grand-prix engine to date. By the 1970's, almost every car was powered by it (with the notable exception of Ferrari). Great drivers of this era included Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, Jack Brabham and Jim Clark.
The 1970's saw such motor racing greats as Niki Lauda and Gilles Villeneuve enter Formula 1 and also saw innovations in design including six-wheel cars, ground effect aerodynamics and as the decade ended, turbocharging.
The 1980's was the era of racing that I first experienced, and saw some of the best driver's the sport had ever seen. Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell all slugged it out with each other in the hugely powerful turbo-charged cars of this era. Concerns about safety in an era when a turbo engine set up for qualifying could put out as much as 1500 bhp led to the banning of turbocharging after 1988 and the re-introduction of normally aspirated engines.
The 1990's began with Mansell, Prost and Senna still the men to beat. However, the decade has seen new stars emerge, including Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen and Jacques Villeneuve (son of the late Gilles). In fact, Damon Hill became the only son of a former World Champion (Graham) to also win the drivers title. Sadly, 1994 saw the death at Imola of one of the best drivers the sport had ever seen. Ayrton Senna's death, secondary to a head injury received when his Williams slammed into the barrier, led to major changes in the rules for car design, all in order to make them slower (relatively) and safer. Engine size was reduced from 3.5 to 3 litres, the tires and cars were made narrower and stricter regulations about the aerodynamics of the cars were introduced.
In 2000 Michael Schumacher finally won his first drivers championship in a Ferrari (Ferrari's 1st drivers championship in 21 years), his third title to go with the previous two he won in a Benetton. He proceeded to win again in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, bringing him up to 7 drivers championships in total to date (as of the beginning of 2006). This makes him the most successful F1 driver of all time in terms of championships won (surpassing Fangio's record of 5 titles). In 2005 his luck changed mainly due to the Bridgestone tires on his Ferrari not being anything like as good as the Michelin tires on his rivals cars in conforming to the new rules in '05. Essentially in race tire changes were not allowed without a penalty and the Bridgestones were not as good as the Michelins in lasting the full race distance. Instead, the constructors championship went to Renault and their star driver, Spaniard Fernando Alonso won the drivers championship (the youngest driver ever to do so).
The 2006 season is only 2 races old as I write this update, and so far Renault have won the first 2 races. However, Schumacher was much more competitive in the opening races and it looks like he could return to form and be the man to beat again in 2006. Time will tell of course! The rules for 2006 have also changed quite significantly in that engines are now 2.4 litre V8s instead of 3.0 litre V10s, and tire changes are once again allowed.
The following are the names of the Formula 1 cars in my collection. Please click on a name to find out more about them.
